The leak of the film on the Internet ahead of its theatrical debut, an unusually rare occurrence, could dampen box office for “Expendables 3.” It’s also worth noting that the target demo for the movie is young males, who are the biggest users of illegal file-sharing services.

With 21 days left to go before the Aug. 15 premiere, the number of illegal downloads of “Expendables 3″ will certainly soar into the millions.

Lionsgate, which is distributing the movie, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The original source of the pirated copy is unclear; user comments posted on piracy websites indicate the rip is genuine.

Pirated copies of “Expendables 3″ began cropping up on torrent-sharing sites Wednesday and downloads started to spike Thursday, according to data provided by piracy-analytics firm Excipio. As of 6 p.m. Eastern Thursday, the movie had been downloaded 189,052 times worldwide, with 42,216 of those in the U.S., according to Excipio.

While someone at the studio is likely pondering over which flavor of bleach tastes the best, denizens of the Internet have quite the opposite reaction.

Take a look at what the man cave inhabitants are saying about The Expendables 3 leak in the gallery below. They may be able to tip in you in the right direction if you don’t care about supporting the movie.

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mon88

post the link i heard its good.

creative77

Don’t you realize that this will be the straw that breaks the camel’s/Hollywood’s back? NOW the studios are mad as hell – expect them to go after the folks who did this with a vengeance and make an example of them. Whoever did this is going to do jail time. Years. Beyond that, Hollywood isn’t going to let it go; count on the studios going to Congress again – and the massive downloading with give them the ammunition to get new stringent laws passed. The downloads on this ain’t going to be worth it, guys!

Crayon Scribe

Wow! If you’re right, then it’ll be almost as disturbing as people who post opinion as fact! This has the potential of being one of the biggest landmark changes in the movie industry. Which, hopefully, will be enough to distract me from my loss of faith in the stability of the English language after reading your comment.